Professional Stress in Law Enforcement: Foreign and Domestic Research Experience

The type of social organization of the law enforcement sphere is widely represented in all countries of the world, but still insufficiently studied phenomenon of public life.

The specifics of the professional activity of the employees of the internal affairs bodies are due to the high level of official and moral responsibility for the decisions taken, as well as responsibility for all professional actions / inactions strictly regulated by the letter of the law and rigidly established deadlines. In this regard, the constant action of emotional and informational factors contributes to the development of professional stress among police officers, followed by mental maladaptation and professional burnout.

The World Health Organization calls occupational stress a "disease of the XXI century", since this type of stress has assumed the dimensions of a "global epidemic" and is found in almost all professions of the world ^[1].

Occupational stress, as a particular variant of the general adaptation syndrome, is a functional state associated with the performance of professional activity, expressed in mental and physical reactions to stressful work situations that arise under the influence of emotionally negative and extreme factors.

The topic of professional stress in law enforcement is quite relevant and in demand in foreign studies. However, instead of conducting comprehensive studies of occupational stress, foreign authors prefer to conduct detailed studies, testing a number of particular hypotheses and the influence of individual stress factors.

For example, the results of a study conducted on a sample of Norwegian police officers showed that psychological endurance and physical fitness can be important factors in how operational stress affects a person in a police environment. Those with high endurance and good physical fitness seem to be better able to recover from a stressful incident, which can be vital in an operational context ^[2].

The results of a study conducted on a sample of American patrol police officers showed that the main causes of stress are: financial situation, a situation when a fellow officer was killed or witnessed a fatal outcome, poor personal relationships with a supervisor and unfair promotion opportunities. As a result of the study, it was also revealed that physical exercise is the main means of stress relief for law enforcement officers, and not alcohol at all, as previously thought ^[3].

The results of a study conducted on a sample of Australian police officers and auxiliary (civilian) personnel who assisted in the disaster response, who underwent clinical interviews and measurements of psychological stress and four weeks later clinical interviews and measurements of post-traumatic stress disorder - showed that civilian employees reported significantly higher symptoms of general distress and post-traumatic stress disorder than police officers. Women reported significantly higher symptoms of psychological stress than men; however, gender differences in post-traumatic stress symptoms were not observed ^[4].

V. Hussain conducted a study involving more than three hundred urban and rural police officers from various districts of Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It has been proven that police officers working in urban areas demonstrate higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress compared to police officers working in rural areas ^[5].

It is also worth noting a number of studies that have revealed significant aspects in the professional stress of police officers.

M. Murad, V. Jiatong, F. Shahzad and N. Syed, having conducted a study on a sample of Pakistani police officers, revealed the influence of oppressive leadership on counterproductive behavior of police officers, leading to emotional exhaustion. At the same time, it was revealed that the organizational cynicism of police officers acts as a psychological defense under oppressive leadership and helps to reduce the level of emotional exhaustion ^[6].

T. Craddock and G. Telesco touched upon an important topic in their research related to the fear of law enforcement officers to seek professional psychological and/or psychiatric help when symptoms of occupational stress and post-traumatic stress disorder increase. The results of the study confirm that the constant long-term impact of critical incidents and traumatic events within the framework of the duties of a law enforcement officer has negative consequences that can affect both their physical and mental well-being. Symptoms can manifest as an increase in physical ailments, including an increase in cases of injuries sustained at work, and an increase in the number of stress-related diagnoses, including gastrointestinal ulcers or hypertension. It can also manifest itself in the form of nightmares, obsessive memories of traumatic events, significant personal or behavioral changes, including those expressed in the fact that an officer enters into a physical quarrel with a citizen faster, cases of quarrels in the family, cases of alcohol abuse and/or prescription drugs, depression and/or suicide attempts. These symptoms increase when an officer realizes that receiving any psychological services to solve these problems will not be supported by the hierarchy of law enforcement agencies and may actually lead to the officer being declared unfit for service ^[7].  

In addition, it should be noted the great contribution of foreign researchers in the search for ways and methods of preventing occupational stress and facilitating the course of post-traumatic stress disorder.

B. Heusler and K. Sutter summarized the results of seven independent studies in order to identify a correlation between gaze control (concentration of attention), training and anxiety in stressful situations in law enforcement. It was revealed that there are significant differences in how highly qualified law enforcement officers control their gaze (are able to focus attention) compared to novices and untrained civilians. Experience and knowledge related to a specific subject area improve visual perception skills and overall performance under stress. Training in real scenarios and calm eye training seem to have the most beneficial effect on gaze control and decision-making in stressful situations. The authors suggest that eye training (concentration of attention) to improve visual perception skills helps law enforcement officers to provide the shortest path for learning and making effective decisions in stressful situations ^[8].

D. Group, C. McGee, K. Smith, E. D. Francis, J. A. Mumford and R. J. Davidson found that in addition to organizational stress, law enforcement officers are regularly exposed to direct and indirect effects of a wide range of traumatic stressors and are at high risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder. The results of studies conducted on a sample of American police officers have shown that meditation and targeted mindfulness training helps to reduce perceived stress, improve physical and mental health outcomes, reduce the intensity of sleep disorders, anxiety and emotional burnout ^[9].

S. Lark, R. Kurtovich, L. De Terte and K. Bromhead identified specific physiological markers (the level of the hormone cortisol and the level of eosinophils in the leukocyte formula) of chronic diseases associated with stress and suppression of immunity. At the same time, high-intensity intermittent training in already trained police officers who are in good physical shape helps to reduce psychological stress, normalize the function of the hormone cortisol and reduce systemic inflammation in diseases by reducing the number of eosinophils ^[10].

V. Viegas and D. Henriques conducted a study of a sample of Indian police officers in order to study the relationship between stress at work, conflict between work and family and job satisfaction among police officers. The results of the study showed a significant positive correlation between occupational stress and conflict between work and family and a significant negative correlation between occupational stress and job satisfaction. In addition, there was a slight negative correlation between job satisfaction and conflict between work and family. The results obtained can help in the development of measures to reduce stress at work and conflict between work and family among police officers, which will help them develop a healthy work-life balance ^[11].

T. Chitra and S. Karunanidhi conducted a study on a sample of Indian policewomen and proved the positive impact of resilience training (resilience training program) on reducing occupational stress, increasing the level of resilience, job satisfaction and psychological well-being. The sustainability training contained such components as: the development of self-awareness, positive attitude, emotion management and the development of interpersonal communication skills ^[12].

To. Jansess, P. van der Velden, R. Taris and M. Van Veldhoven analyzed a number of studies concerning the resilience, endurance and psychological capital of police officers, considered as the most important abilities for police officers not only to cope with complex stressful and potentially traumatic situations, but also to successfully adapt to them, including organizational stress and conflicts between work and personal life.

The central themes found in various definitions of resilience are overcoming difficulties and injuries, positive adaptation, and the absence of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. More generally, resilience is seen as the ability to "recover" from adversity, as well as develop the ability to cope with future negative events.

It is believed that, like resilience, endurance affects people's interaction with other people and problem solving, which is described by three aspects of endurance, for example, commitment (approach situations as meaningful and interesting), control (perception of stressors as changeable) and challenge (perception of change as an opportunity for growth and as a normal aspect of life, and not as a threat). Like resilience, endurance is seen as a psychological skill for police officers that gives positive results after stress and trauma.

Psychological capital consists of four aspects: self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience (achieving success when faced with setbacks and adversities). Psychological capital contributes to job satisfaction, commitment to the organization and psychological well-being.

All of these definitions, one way or another, relate to abilities, strengths, styles or character traits that allow police officers to successfully cope with difficult, stressful or adverse events (as a moderator or mediator), which allows police officers to (continue) effectively perform their duties ^[13].

K. Shingo and H. Shilubane conducted a study of ways to deal with professional stress among South African police officers from Limpopo province. It was found that psychological well-being, job satisfaction and reduced perception of organizational stress are mainly associated with social support and religion. Almost all respondents reported that prayer and trust in God is a mechanism they use to manage stressful situations. Belief in the traditional African religion allows not only to relieve stress with the help of special rituals, but also to "get rid" of bad luck, as well as "attract" good luck. Some study participants mentioned that police officers use alcohol, cigarettes and drugs to cope with daily work stress. Some participants indicated that they engage in sports and physical activity to cope with home and work pressure ^[14].

Thus, we come to the conclusion that many of the foreign studies are focused on practice-oriented tasks regarding the identification of stress factors of police professional activity and the development of training programs, methods of prevention and control of symptoms of professional stress in law enforcement. At the same time, two aspects of occupational stress are mainly considered: operational stress, which includes stress from the requirements and responsibilities of the profession, including a high risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, and organizational stress, which includes a perceived lack of support from management and colleagues, pressure from the administration (management), lack of opportunities for promotion in the hierarchy and etc .

Domestic researchers consider the topic of occupational stress mainly in a theoretical aspect, analyzing the causes, stages of occurrence, consequences of manifestation. In the applied aspect, domestic researchers consider the topic of occupational stress in relation to representatives of certain socially significant professions (doctors, teachers, managers, firefighters, police officers, pilots, extreme specialists, etc.). At the same time, studies of occupational stress in law enforcement representatives are usually detailed by type of professional activity (investigators, employees of the state inspectorate traffic safety, employees of pre-trial detention centers, correctional colonies, etc.)

M.V. Pryakhina notes that the internal affairs bodies, as a type of social organization, "produce" a socially significant intangible product – internal security ^{[15, p. 234]}.

A.P. Shikhova suggests taking into account that the professional activity of police officers is distinguished by the uniqueness of its subject and in most areas of work is represented by the antisocial human activity of criminals, its material (evidence, physical evidence) and ideal (memories, impressions in the mind of the criminal, victim, witness, etc.) "products" of activity, as well as peculiar motives and goals ^{[16, p.208]}. It should be noted that in most cases the subject of activity is presented fragmentary, mostly random and secondary elements, and traces of criminal activity that help restore the integrity of the subject, as a rule, are carefully hidden, masked or destroyed by people who have committed a criminal act.

V.V. Sizova, M.V. Blokhina see the essence of professional stress in situations when work requirements do not coincide or exceed the capabilities, resources or needs of an employee, or when the stock of knowledge or abilities of an individual employee or group does not meet the expectations of the organizational culture of the enterprise ^{[17, p. 80]}.

 Regarding the professional activities of law enforcement officers, T.V. Mikhailova identifies primary, secondary and tertiary consequences of occupational stress ^{[18, p.50]}.

The primary consequences include various negative mental states (for example, a state of fatigue and overwork, distraction, irritability, anger, strong emotional excitement, etc.) that arise during the impact of stress factors and in connection with the conditions of professional activity. Their peculiarity is that they arise directly in response to a specific, well-identified stress factor (a group of stress factors). A significant role in the occurrence of primary reactions is played by personal characteristics, such as, for example, increased anxiety, aggressiveness, emotional instability, impressionability, fatigue, etc.

Secondary consequences arise as a result of unsuccessful (or inadequate) attempts to overcome the maladaptive state caused by stress, as well as due to the absence or insufficient / untimely social assistance (rehabilitation and psychocorrective measures), support from a significant environment (family, friends, colleagues, managers). The secondary effects of stress factors are reflected at the behavioral level and are fixed in habits and lifestyle (alcohol abuse, drug and narcotic drugs, frequent outbreaks of aggressive or autoaggressive behavior, professional deformations, reduced working capacity and labor efficiency, prevailing depressive-pessimistic or indifferent mood, hypochondria - going into illness).

Tertiary consequences affect a broader group of socio-psychological and organizational phenomena. The tertiary consequences include the deterioration of the socio-psychological climate in the team, the increase and intensification of conflicts (both official and family, intrapersonal), social apathy and an increase in the proportion of violations of official discipline, a decrease in job and work satisfaction (and quality of life in general), the decision to leave the service (including early retirement upon reaching the minimum required length of service), increased staff turnover.

Much attention of domestic researchers, as well as foreign ones, is paid to the development of methods, methods and programs for the prevention and neutralization of occupational stress.

For example, O.V. Krasilov suggests starting training police officers to manage their psycho-emotional state under stress, extreme situations already during the training of cadets and trainees in educational institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. In his opinion, the ability to cope with stress, mastery of the mechanisms of self-regulation of the emotional state are no less important than tactical, special and physical training ^{[19, p.281]}.

A.V. Lavrenko adheres to a similar point of view, suggesting starting a purposeful process of forming professional, service-specific coping behavior at the stage of initial professional training of police officers ^{[20, p. 341]}.

O.A. Zhidkova believes that the peculiarities of police service associated with the intense impact of stress factors oblige organizational structures to provide preventive measures aimed at the formation of the resource potential of the individual and adequate basic coping strategies to prevent the development of professional stress. Prevention of maladaptive states and correction of coping behavior of police officers will be possible under the condition of psychological support in the form of specialized training sessions, the main purpose of which is the formation of competence in the emotional-volitional sphere ^{[21, p. 282]}.

 E.M. Kostenko, S.A. Ognev, analyzing the practical tools of psychological work with professional stress, suggest as the main recommended methods of stress management: autogenic training (auto-training), meditation, deep slow breathing technique, muscle relaxation method, self-hypnosis, mindfulness (secular meditation), art therapy (creative components) ^[22].

M.V. Pryakhina writes in her works that in the course of the conducted research during the approbation of complex rehabilitation programs, it was proved that the state of neuropsychiatric maladaptation that occurs under the influence of stress factors can be successfully regulated by modern psychocorrective methods, and does not lead to the loss of work capacity by employees of the Department of Internal Affairs within the framework of their professional activities. The main psychocorrective methods in these programs were methods of body-oriented therapy. However, the specifics of hierarchical subordination in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation negatively colors the relationship "psychologist-employee". Most employees are afraid that the data obtained by the psychologist may become the property of higher management and negatively affect the course of service and further career growth ^{[15, p. 237]}.

A.G. Galimova, D.A. Khasanova believe that one of the popular methods (methods) of developing (increasing) stress tolerance and stress relief for employees of internal affairs bodies are psychotraining, sports, creative activities and also the use of breathing techniques that originate from yoga. The peculiarities of performing breathing techniques are primarily accessibility, they do not require special equipment or special training. For breathing techniques, only maximum concentration and understanding of the technique of movements are necessary, which distinguishes them from other methods ^[23].

L.Yu. Nezhkina suggests considering psychophysical training as a means of preventing professional stress of an employee of the internal affairs bodies. The basis of psychophysical training consists of 5 special skills: the skill of building self-confidence; managing your internal conversation (internal monologue); regulating the level of physical and mental activity; concentration of attention; ideomotor training ^{[24, p. 115]}.

In addition to all these options, we also see the appropriate approach used by organizational psychologists, according to which three types of interventions should be used to prevent and combat occupational stress. Primary interventions are associated with the identification and elimination of factors of increased tension (stress factors). Secondary interventions are aimed at changing the reactions of employees to stressors (programs and trainings for the development of stress tolerance, psychosocial rehabilitation, relaxation, healthy lifestyle). Tertiary interventions are focused on minimizing the harmful consequences formed in complicated working conditions (ergonomics of the workplace, team building trainings, programs to optimize the socio-psychological climate in the team).

It is important to understand that in itself the concept of "professional stress" in the psychological sense is a mental model reflecting the individual's ideas about the causes and development of stress associated with the performance of professional activities and its manifestations ^{[25, p. 113]}.

To identify the mental representation of occupational stress in the study, we used a directed associative experiment with subsequent content analysis of the results. In accordance with the instructions, respondents had to describe in as much detail as possible stressful situations in their professional activities, which personally have a subjective meaning for them and are perceived as professional stress. The time for completing tasks was not limited and averaged from 10 to 20 minutes.

The sample of respondents consisted of 140 police officers, including: 70 people - 3-4-year cadets and 5th-year full-time students studying in the specialties: 40.05.01 "Legal support of national security", 40.05.02 "Law enforcement; 70 people are active police officers who, at the time of the study, are undergoing correspondence training in the specialty 40.05.02 "Law Enforcement", training direction 40.03.01 "Jurisprudence" on the basis of the Vladivostok Branch of the Far Eastern Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

The distribution of the sample by gender and age is as follows: among full-time students, 30 girls (42.86%) and 40 boys (57.14%), the age range is 20-22 years; among part-time students, 15 women (21.43%) and 55 men (78.57%), the age range is 26-48 years.

The survey was conducted anonymously, on a voluntary basis.

When processing the results of the study, a content analysis of the respondents' answers to the question was used. It should be noted that the answers of the students were brief and capacious, practically did not contain explanations and illustrative examples. The responses of the current police officers were quite detailed, systematic (with an explanation of cause-and-effect relationships) and contained a large number of examples of stressful situations from their own practical experience in the police.

The content analysis of the respondents' responses revealed the following categories and subcategories (unit of analysis).

The category of "competencies" combined situations of professional stress associated with incompetence of management, misunderstanding of tasks and lack of knowledge and skills. At the same time, the following were identified: misunderstanding and injustice on the part of the governing staff; "setups" and pressure from the leadership; unwillingness of the leadership to listen, dependence of the decision on the mood; contradictory instructions; misunderstanding of what exactly and how to do and no one can clearly explain and help; find yourself in a difficult and ambiguous situation, previously, which I have not encountered and do not know how to cope with it, due to lack of experience and proper level of qualification; the need to do something first and alone; confusion from lack of experience and knowledge, in particular: insufficient level of knowledge, interpretation and application of regulatory (regulatory) acts, inability timely and fully monitor all changes in the issued regulatory (regulatory) acts.

The category "work parameters" combined situations of professional stress associated with multitasking, uncertainty, urgency of tasks, lack of time, high responsibility, large and uneven amount of work, excessive physical and psycho-emotional stress. At the same time, the following situations of professional stress were identified: a lot of tasks that appear at once and there is no knowledge / understanding of how to solve them; the need to simultaneously solve several urgent tasks set by different managers; urgent assignments distracting from a specific task; you plan one thing, you are instructed to quit everything and do another (the deadline is yesterday); uncertainty in case of a forced action; uncertainty in the work, a situation for which I was not ready; an unexpectedly set task, for which preliminary preparation is needed, for example, to prepare a report based on data that needs to be previously collected, processed, analyzed and summarized; setting time standards for the performance of work, non-fulfillment of which entails deterioration of the entire situations, and at the same time the establishment of punishment on the part of management; a large amount of work with a minimum amount of information; a large workload and constant pursuit of deadlines; a large workload associated with a lack of time, an endless stream of work; a high degree of responsibility for the decision made and the mistake made.

The category "social interaction" combined situations of professional stress associated with conflicts with management, colleagues, citizens, communication difficulties, lack of help and support, lack of like-minded people; unfavorable socio-psychological climate in the team. At the same time, the following stressful situations were identified: tension of communication with inadequate citizens and criminals; improper communication – raising the voice, shouting, obscene language; speaking in front of a large / unfamiliar or unfamiliar audience; lack of support from citizens and the state as a whole; constant complaints, criticism from the head in the absence of constructiveness; lack of help and support from the manager and colleagues; lack of like-minded colleagues.

Separately, in the category of social interaction, conflicts with the head, colleagues, subordinates, citizens should be highlighted.

 The causes of professional stress in a conflict with a manager were identified as follows: contradictory instructions; inadequate decision-making and setting tasks (sometimes contradicting earlier ones in the future); "forgetting" previously reached agreements and promises, for example, when management sets some tasks first, then changes them on the move and says that this did not happen, and what should have been done is not done, while still throwing up several tasks in parallel and everything should have been done yesterday; the leadership's vision does not coincide with the views of subordinates; unwillingness to often listen to arguments and accept a different point of view, tyranny; talking in "different languages", imaginary superiority on the part of management; in some cases, fear of accepting taking responsibility and making decisions; nepotism, the allocation of "favorites in the team"; delegation of authority to other employees, shifting responsibility and responsibilities to those who are already "plowing"; setting unusual tasks that are not included in the responsibilities; not understanding the real situation, not the desire of management to compromise; conflicts over work schedules, vacation schedules, last-minute work schedule changes; due to poor working conditions, lack of proper logistics and strict requirements for the performance of work, bureaucracy; high demands, unnecessary tasks, constant manic control.

The causes of professional stress in conflict with colleagues were identified as follows: everyone thinks that he works better and more than everyone else; disinterest, negligent attitude to work; uneven distribution of the amount of work, responsibilities and responsibilities; lack of education, quarrelsome nature, rudeness; distraction from the main job with empty conversations, too frequent smoke breaks, breaks for tea and coffee; the desire of colleagues to shift their responsibilities to others; failure to fulfill their official duties; low level of qualification of some colleagues, rudeness, arrogance; some colleagues work "carelessly", do not take responsibility for their work; low discipline and the amount of legal training, "work from under the stick"; they can be framed by going on "sick leave"; personal hostility, "underhand fuss", gossip and discussion behind their backs, including personal life; non-professionals take the place of decent people.

Due to the fact that only 6 respondents have employees in subordination, the subcategory "conflicts with subordinates" is represented by a minimum number of answers, summarizing which, we come to the conclusion that professional stress in situations of conflicts with subordinates is mainly due to: attempts to evade work; laziness, unwillingness to learn and master new knowledge and skills; by refusing to provide what they want, for example, a vacation at their preferred time of the year.

The causes of professional stress in the conflict with citizens were identified as follows: lack of understanding of the activities and purpose of police officers in general; during mass events (inspection of personal belongings), people do not want to show the contents of their bags, backpacks; misunderstanding, as a rule, in official activities we encounter people leading an antisocial lifestyle, in communication data citizens are initially set up for conflict; inappropriate behavior due to an altered state; carelessness, irresponsibility, inability to be responsible for their actions; illiteracy, inability to perceive information, persons previously convicted, juvenile offenders; lack of tact, subordination on the part of citizens; aggressively offended applicants who disagree with the decision taken on their application, as well as applicants who first wrote an application, and then – "I want to take the application", "I don't want anything"; negative attitude towards police officers, rudeness of communication on the part of citizens, ignorance of the laws by citizens; distrust of citizens to the police department, their desire to assert themselves in conflict with the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; legal nihilism, unwillingness of citizens to obey the authorities; approval: You must (must)! In most cases, conflicts with citizens occur due to the fact that citizens are intoxicated, and they do not care who communicates with them or is nearby. Hence the insults and obscene language in your address. At the same time, a police officer in any situation with citizens should be polite and tactful, try to understand the problem and help.

The category "working conditions and organization" combined situations of professional stress associated with bureaucracy, understaffing, weak material and technical base. A typical description of a stressful situation related to working conditions and organization is as follows: a large shortage of personnel (hence a large workload: almost every department now has one employee working for three), you are constantly in tension, poor technical support, a large amount of paperwork with limited deadlines (including for absent colleagues due to vacation or sick leave), while other duties are not canceled, lack of time to execute these documents, and as a result, this creates severe discomfort, since you constantly twist in your head that you need to execute documents on time; lack of necessary funds to perform official duties; shortage of employees, due to what you have to constantly go into reserves; factors of the production environment: equipment (old / broken / lack of necessary equipment), lack of consumables (cartridge, paper), lack of fuel in the proper volume; old equipment and software takes a lot of useful time; bureaucratic delays, excessive paperwork.

The category "Threat to personal security" combined situations of professional stress associated with inappropriate behavior of citizens, communication with a special contingent, a crowd, the need to use weapons. So, in particular, the following responses were received from respondents when describing situations of professional stress: a suspect may attack with a knife and harm the investigator; fear of being alone with a criminal of large build and aggressive; inappropriate behavior of other people (suspects); a situation in which the life and health of an employee and other people are threatened; superiority in human power on the part of criminals; suppression of criminally punishable crimes at the time of its commission; detention of particularly dangerous armed criminals; the need to use service weapons; shooting to kill; an aggressively unruly crowd.

The category "Dissatisfaction" combined situations of professional stress related to the labor process, the result of labor, the content of labor, financial results (remuneration for labor), working conditions, and injustice. Among the respondents' answers, the following aspects of dissatisfaction that create professional stress can be distinguished: they are accused of not doing and not being able to defend their point of view; non-compliance with labor legislation; there is no pleasure in what you are doing; lack of results and development; doing something that does not bring any knowledge and skills, just for ticks; unfair treatment; work for others; lack of visible encouragement for the work done; lack of a normal salary; unfair reprimand and deprivation of bonuses; ingratitude, disrespect.

The category "Imbalance" combined situations of professional stress associated with a violation of the balance of work and leisure; work and personal life. First of all, respondents are concerned about the following aspects: absence of vacation at a certain (desirable) time; lack of free time; working late without days off; incessant work for a long time without proper rest; a lot of work and little free time; spending holidays and weekends in solving work issues; a huge amount of work that deprives personal life; lack of time for personal life; lack of personal life; inability to spend more time with family; work damages personal and family interests, too little time for rest, recovery.

The category "personal fears and worries" combined situations of professional stress associated with helplessness and inability to influence the situation, fear of making a mistake, fear of making the wrong decision, fear of dismissal, as well as a wide range of intrapersonal conflicts. Most often, the following situations can be found in the responses of respondents: the inability to complete the task; in some cases, the futility of actions; helplessness; a situation that is out of control; to find yourself in a situation from which you cannot find a way out or solutions; the human factor.

Among the individual (subjective) fears and worries associated with professional stress, I would like to note: the fear of oversleeping and being late; the fear of losing authority, demonstrative humiliation in front of the team; participation in the parade / drill review; presentation of a report at a meeting with the understanding that there are no real results; return of the case / documents for revision.

As an illustration of personal fears and worries related to professional activity, we can give several examples from the questionnaires of respondents:

- "... In practice, we often have to deal with situations related to the search for minor children, working with families where children are in a socially dangerous situation. As a woman and a mother, being at the same time a police officer, I react acutely and painfully to such incidents. Night trips also increase anxiety, as fatigue and accumulated aggression manifest themselves...".

- "...A stressful situation when the duty unit sends for a call, but you don't arrive at the call yet and you don't know exactly what's there, anxiety, stress arises...".

- "...A stressful situation in my professional activity is that when a company car breaks down, there are no spare parts for it. I repair the car of the duty unit assigned to me myself, since the firms that have to repair them under the contract are extremely negligent about this ...".

- "... A stressful situation for me when I missed a criminal, when I caught a pedophile or a murderer and I see that he is grinning and is not afraid of punishment, plus in connection with the current situation in Ukraine – everyone demands an explanation why we are not going there, they condemn and do not understand ...".

- "... Situations that happen in personal practice for the first time, and in the resolution of which a low level of qualification does not allow you to make the right decision, in which you feel uneducated and unqualified, and the thought that seeking help from more experienced and qualified colleagues can cause a negative and a lot of criticism on their part ...".

- "... The presence of working moments that are absolutely useless and no one needs! When the management demands to perform certain actions, and I understand that after doing this, after half an hour, my reports, certificates, etc. will be thrown into the trash! And to do this work, sometimes you have to spend a lot of time and effort. At the same time, the work that is really important, necessary, remains in the background...".

In addition, it is necessary to note the importance of intrapersonal conflicts that cause personal anxiety of police officers under the influence of professional stress. Among the respondents ' responses , the following can be distinguished: unrealized desire, the conflict of motives: I can't understand that I want more, to rise to a senior position, or to retire; the constant expectation of bad news; criticize and blame myself for what ever take work home; blame yourself for what I spend little time with the family; due to overwork become aggressive, irritable and tear anger at loved ones; understatement of self-esteem, difficulties in choosing and deciding (if a mistake); the contradiction between internal needs and the social norm; working in a small town often have to deal with offences committed by longtime acquaintances, friends, neighbors and other known to me the people that you need to hold on duty, but a personal relationship asking about the reverse; inner anguish, when a child is sick, parents, spouse, and you need to go to work and fulfill his duty; constant self-doubt, – are all doing the right thing; knowing I don't have time to do your job, can't say no to a colleague who asks for help; lay to the last some obscure for me or just unpleasant for me, although I understand that none of it will not make me; inner tear, a constant choice between family and work; conflict is associated with the allocation of time and personal effort aimed at yourself/family/work; the feeling that they are doing not what we would like and what I would like – I don't know; understanding that it is not in his place, and sorry to leave, as to the minimum pension in a few years; doubt their own competence, beating yourself up for mistakes; understand the problems and the importance of urgent matters, but can not correctly allocate time to address them (aside).

Thus, it should be noted that the personal aspect associated with the subjective perception of stress factors, worldview, hierarchy of values, personal responsibility, attitude to professional activities and other people, emotionality and humanity will play a huge role in understanding professional stress.

Summing up the research, we can draw the following conclusions:

1. The topic of professional stress in the activities of law enforcement agencies has received quite a lot of attention in both foreign and domestic studies. At the same time, foreign research focuses on practice-oriented aspects, testing of particular hypotheses, identifying factors and methods that can ensure the prevention and neutralization of professional stress in police officers. Domestic research is mainly theoretical in nature, analyzing the causes of occurrence, stages of occurrence, consequences of manifestation. In the applied aspect, domestic researchers consider the topic of professional stress among law enforcement officials, as a rule, they are detailed by type of professional activity (investigators, employees of the state road safety inspectorate, employees of pre-trial detention centers, correctional colonies, etc.), but comprehensive research, integration of results, as a rule, is not carried out.

2. The stressful specifics of the professional activity of police officers presupposes the need for special support from the state and the leadership, providing, if necessary, social and psychological assistance to police officers exposed to professional stress and post-traumatic stress disorder. At the same time, the efforts of foreign researchers are aimed at developing trainings and training programs for coping with stress of active police officers, as well as rehabilitation programs for both active and retired officers. Domestic researchers propose to introduce stress resistance trainings already in the process of training cadets and undergoing initial police training. For current employees, domestic researchers suggest using psychological tools for psychocorrection of stress and stress disorders (without focusing on the specifics of the professional activities of police officers).

3. The conducted content analysis of the representations of Russian police officers about professional situations that cause stress allowed us to identify 8 key units of analysis: competencies; work parameters; social interaction (including describing in detail the causes of conflicts with the head, colleagues, subordinates, citizens); working conditions and organization; threat to personal safety; violation of balance; dissatisfaction; personal fears of anxiety. At the same time, the high role of personal subjective perception of the situation of professional stress was illustrated.

4. The answers of the students were short and succinct, practically did not contain explanations and illustrative examples. It is indisputable that even during full-time training, cadets and trainees, being police officers, have a sufficiently formed (stereotyped, stereotyped) idea of their future professional activities, have a number of expectations regarding potential stresses in their future professional activities. Accordingly, the proposal of domestic researchers to introduce stress resistance training already at the stage of training for the police profession is quite justified and appropriate.

5. The responses of the current police officers were quite detailed, systematic (with an explanation of cause-and-effect relationships) and contained a large number of examples of stressful situations from their own practical experience in the police. In this regard, training programs and stress tolerance and relaxation training programs aimed at active police officers should be as close as possible to the realities of policing, and psychological tools should be maximally adapted to the "police profile".

6. The results of the study allow us to identify promising areas for further research on the topic of professional stress in law enforcement:

Firstly, a detailed study and systematization of current stress factors in the professional activities of modern Russian police officers.

Secondly, the detailing of the symptoms of the identified stress factors of the professional activity of police officers and the development of strategies and tactics for the prevention and psychocorrection of professional stress in law enforcement.

Thirdly, the study of non-organizational stress factors that are not directly related to professional activity, but indirectly enhance the effect of professional stress.

Fourth, the diagnosis and study of intrapersonal conflicts of police officers, in order to develop ways to minimize the impact of this factor on the effectiveness of professional activity.